Rashid Malabari's explosive confession

April 07, 2009 11:57 IST

38-year-old Rashid Malbari, alias Rashid Hussain Sheikh, a close aide of gangster Chota Shakeel had planned to kidnap a Dubai-based businessman returning to Mangalore for a ransom of Rs 5 crore. The ransom amount was to be used to assassinate Varun Gandhi and Pramod Muthalik, Malbari confessed before the Mangalore police.

In his confession statement which is in possession of rediff.com, Rashid said that he was in Dubai when his boss Shakeel told him to go to India on an assignment. "I flew from Dubai to Nepal and reached Mumbia via Gorakhpur. After reaching Mumbai I called up Shakeel who asked me to go to Mangalore and meet Ismail," his confessional statement said.

"Ismail, told me to stay in a rented house in Kaup for sometime before the assignment was finalized. While staying there I was introduced to Sayaf, Mohammed Hashim and Ibrahim. Soon we became good friends and I was given Alto car to move around. Ibrahim gave me Rs 25,000 to go to Mumbai," Rashid said in his confession.

Assignment via SMS

"When I reached Mumbai I called up Shakeel on his phone to get further instructions. He did not tell me anything but few days later he sent me two SMS, one mentioning that I should kill Pramod Muthalik and the other said kill Indira Gandhi's grandson, Varun Gandhi. I called him to confirm the message, he said that I should complete the assignment to safeguard the interest of the community."

"Shakeel asked me what I needed and which assignment I could do faster. I told him I would kill Muthalik first. I told him I needed three pistols. Shakeel sent me three pistols. He also messaged Muthalik. I returned to Mangalore and asked Sayaf, Ibrahim and Hashim to do a reccee on Muthalik."

"I explained to Ibrahim and Suhail about the plot to kill Muthalik as he was anti muslim. I gave them Rs 20,000 for the assignment and asked Ibrahim and Hashim to make a detailed sketch of the area and send it to me, but before this they were caught.I explained to them about the plan and we decided to kidnap Isaoobu, for a ransom, to utilize the same for the Varun Gandhi assignment. Shakeel had also sent me Rs 1 lakh."

Rashid further confessed that he took the help of his nephew Suhail to kidnap Isoobu. "We had planned ot kidnap Isaboo near Udupi railway station. After briefing the assignment to the boys, I shifted myself to Kasargod and stayed in a rented house," Rashid told the cops.

Confession"I hail from Maharashtra's Thane district and used to stay at room no. 202 Kulsoom apartments. I used to stay at this above mentioned place with my wife Zohra and my son Azhar. I studied upto 5th standard at Mumbai's Govandiya Shivaji school. I droppped out after 5th standard. Later at the age of 14 I went to Dubai to work with Ismail, who is my sister Hajira's husband.

My parents are from Udupi, my father used to work in Mumbai hotels for a living. My mother Zainabee was my father's third wife. My father has 8 children with her. We used to stay at Mumbai's Dongri place. After my father's death in 1975, we moved to Ghatkopar.

When I was young I used to work as a coolie at the bustands, Later I started working at tea shops, I wanted to earn more money so I started distributing milk door to door. When I was 13 years old I started my own tea shop. Later after my sister Hajira got married to Ismail, he made my passport and took me to Dubai within 6 months of their wedding.

I went to Dubai and worked as a salesman in an Ice cream company Um-al-queen. My brother, Ismail, used to get caught in street brawls and land up in jail very often . I was aware this fact. I used towork as a mechanic at a garage in Dubai. One day a friend C.K.Shariff borrowred Rs 15,000 from me, saying he would return the money once he got back from India, but he did not return it. So we had a fight. I was sent to jail in Dubai for 25 days. Then I paid a fine of Rs 10,000 and got out of jail. When I got out jail, my manager at the ice cream company was not happy with me, he warned me that i would be sacked, then I took leave for 25 days and came back to Mumbai in 1990.

When I got back to Mumbai my elder brother Ismail was in jail, he was acused of the murder of Babasaheb Jadhav. I needed money to get my borther out. Sombody called me on phone and asked me to meet them at a restuarant in Andheri. He was Javed alias Lambu. As I was talking to him he asked one of his henchman to kill me. These men were my brothers enemies. They wanted to take revenge, i managed to escape.

In 1992 I got married to Zohra, whose parents were from a place called Kaup in Udupi district. During this time my borther was released. He was again arrested in 1994 and detained under MISA. We needed money to get him out. I was tired of my brothers' crime record. I had no money . This was affecting my married life with my wife. My brother an I had differences over this. I left home with my wife and settled in Kerala for sometime.But again my mother called me after six months and said I should be with her, so we moved back to Mumbai.

I had to get my brother out. But there was no money, he was put up in Arthur jail. One day when I went to meet him at the jail he gave me the contact number of Dawood's assistant Chota Shakeel. He said Chota Shakeel would help me and arrange for his release. I contacted Chota Shakeel. who was at Dubai. He spoke to me on phone and agreed to arrange for my brother's bail, and also gave us some money.

I had no job, my family was in need of money. I wanted to work. I decided to join Chota Shakeel's gang. Ismail told me not to work with them but I did not listen to him. Initially I was given the task of handing over hawala money to certain people in Mumbai, and i also had to transport weapons in Mumbai, among the gang members. I was also given 9 mm Chinese pistol for my own security. Since then I have been carrying this pistol along with me.

In 1997, Chota Shakeel called me and asked me to threaten a builder from Navi Mumbai. This was my first big assignment. I waited near his house for three days, then I attacked him and fired 4 bullets, one bullet hit him, I was scared, I ran away from there.

Till then no one knew I was working with Chota Shakeel, now it became a fact as the police were searching for me after this incident. In September 1997, my brother Sajid who was in Dubai with my sister came to Mumbai for a vacation, When he went to a BDD chawl at Mumbai Central, some gangmen of Chota Rajan killed my brother and cut his head. I could not claim his body as I feared arrest after the incident with the builder. This was a turning point in my life. I left Mumbai and stayed in Kerala for a year.

10 members from Chota Rajan Gang attacked my brother Ismail, who was being taken to court . I found out that i knew one of the killers, John.

Chota Rajan had sent John to kill me and my friend Mastan in Kerala too. We came to know of this plan and fled from Kerala. I infomed Chota Shakeel about my brother's murder.Chota Shakeel told me to shoot John and his associate Prashanth.

Then we made plans to kill them at Mangalore we followed them at Mangalore railway station. Finally We killed them at Mangalore Mastan and I, shot at John and Prashanth and fled in an auto. We informed Chota Shakeel about it on phone. This was my biggest success. I was satisfed that i had avenged my brother.

From there we fled to Tamil Nadu and then we returned to Bangalore. Chota Shakeel told us to stay at Bangalore with one Salauddin.

Later Chota Shakeel gave me an asignment to kill Chota Rajan's gang members. I killed Hussain vastra, a member of Chota Rajan's gang, then Chota Shakeel asked me to come to Dubai .

In 1999, I went to Dubai with a fake name Abdul Lateef, i rested for sometime. Shakeel gave me money to spend and. I stayed with my sister.

In 2000 I set out to kill Chota Rajan on instructions from Chota Shakeel. I was asked to co-ordinate with Yusuf in Bangkok. I was given three pistols which I fired and checked. It worked well.

I stayed in a farm house in Bangkok called Pechpuri for sometime. Shakeel told us to follow Chota Rajan, saying Rajan would visit a five star hotel and we could kill him there. Chota Rajan's gang members Rohit Verma was also with him. We waited at the hotel but they did not turn up. We let it go on for 6 days.

One day we saw Chota Rajan and his associate Jhinda, but we had no pistols on hand. We told Chota Shakeel that we had spotted him. Luckily Chota Rajan stayed near the same palce as we stayed.

Nine of us planned to murder Chota Rajan. Four people along with Munna Jhingda went upto to the plot. When he rang the door bell, Rohit Verma opened the door. Jhingda killed him. We all started firing, but Chota Rajan was in his bed room, he got away through a window, by the time we opened the bedroom door he had escaped. We stayed quiet for the next six months.

In 2005, Chotaa Shakeel asked me to go to Kuala Lumpur and kill Chota Rajan's gang member Baalu Dongre. Baalu Dongre was a close associate of Chota Rajan. I stabbed Dongre, and returned to Dubai."